The treatment of fluid streams occurs in numerous industrial chemical processes. Improvements in these processes can save millions of dollars in production costs. For example, billions of pounds of polymers are made each year. The production of these polymers is a highly competitive business. Producers of polymers spend millions of dollars to research ways to decrease production costs. This is because of the vast economies of scale possible in these processes. That is, reducing production costs by a penny per pound can save large sums of money. For example, if all producers of polymers that comprised ethylene could reduce production costs by a penny per pound, this would produce a savings of about 800,000,000 dollars.
Typically, in the treatment of fluid streams, undesirable compounds are removed to the extent practicable. Undesirable compounds are compounds that interfere with process operations or product quality. For example, undesirable compounds can deactivate catalyst, foul equipment, or cause product impurities.
Current processes to remove such undesirable compounds are not entirely satisfactory. In these processes, each individual stream is treated in a primary treatment system, and when said primary treatment system is inoperable, a spare treatment system is utilized. For example, in ethylene polymerization processes, often times, three fluid streams require treatment, therefore, a primary and spare treatment system are utilized for each stream. These commercial processes for the treatment of fluid streams require an extensive capital investment during construction for vessels, pumps, and associated piping. In addition, the maintenance and energy costs for these processes are costly.